All iPads SIM card deactivation on Verizon iPads

MacMaven said:

I'm trying to get official answers from Apple and/or Verizon about how to restore prepaid service after the SIM card has been deactivated. For those new to this fiasco, Verizon deactivates your iPad's SIM card when you terminate your cellular service. Even if your tap the "delete account later" button, your SIM card will be toast if you don't reactivate service within five months.

I have cases open with both Verizon and Apple, and will follow up with them shortly. At this point, both companies don't seem to be motivated to help their customers. The Apple rep I spoke with blamed Verizon, and Verizon is clearly using the deactivated SIM card as an opportunity to sign customers up for postpaid service.

I have also written a letter to Tim Cook.

You can follow my personal experience here:
http://macmavenconsulting.com/blog/sim-card-deactivation-on-verizon-ipads/

While replacing the SIM card seems to be the current solution to this issue, it is far from an official or user friendly solution. In my case, one Verizon store gave me a card, and another refused. Customers shouldn't have to resort to buying SIM cards on eBay.

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Old news. Simple answer. You can't. This has been ongoing since the "New" iPad. What's even worse is Verizon won't sell or give you a replacement for their PREPAID service and if they do they USUALLY put you on a POSTPAID plan without telling you. With the Postpaid plan you have to call them to cancel service then they again kill off your SIM.

Reasons for it:

A)You improperly closed your account through the software on the iPad.
B)You waited over 5 months between purchasing data on prepaid.

Unfortunately that's the Verizon service rules. I purchased a few Nano and Micro sims off eBay as backup. They work fine and are cheap. Yes, I know you shouldn't HAVE TO but it wasn't worth MY time running from store to store trying to find a manager who will give you one. I spent the $6 (I p1ss away more than that any hour of the day) rather than waste hours of my time aggravating myself.

Read this thread from "way back when": https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1351655/

I am gifting my iPad 3 and just de-activated the Verizon service. What is the cost of buying a new SIM card from Verizon in case the person who is getting this iPad wants to activate the 4G?

bevsb2 said:

I am gifting my iPad 3 and just de-activated the Verizon service. What is the cost of buying a new SIM card from Verizon in case the person who is getting this iPad wants to activate the 4G?

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You can find then for fairly cheap on eBay. Just keep some around just incase. It's easier than dealing with the hassles of a store

bevsb2 said:

What is the cost of buying a new SIM card from Verizon in case the person who is getting this iPad wants to activate the 4G?

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$0.00 because you can't. Unless you want to spend hours running between stores and fighting with managers to find one who might give you one just order one off eBay for $5. And even if a store gives you one the chances are 98.6% that they will have put you on a POSTPAID contract because they are slimy liars and thieves.

I stopped by the Verizon store last night and was told I can't buy a SIM card, that it is free but only when the 4G service is activated. The iPad is being gifted to a 15 year old who probably won't buy the service anyway, so I'm just going to pass the information on and forget this. Thank you for your responses.

bevsb2 said:

I stopped by the Verizon store last night and was told I can't buy a SIM card, that it is free but only when the 4G service is activated. The iPad is being gifted to a 15 year old who probably won't buy the service anyway, so I'm just going to pass the information on and forget this. Thank you for your responses.

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They failed to add a word: "and was told I can't buy a SIM card, that it is free but only when the POSTPAID 4G service is activated".They won't give you one for the prepaid service despite the fact it's the same SIM.

is there some comprehensive Cell service article or thread that gives you all of the nickel and dimey rules and hassles you face with each carrier? Like activation fees, you can do X but not Y, make sure you don't cancel or if you do you'll get lumped into another plan, and if you're idle for longer than 5 months they'll charge you $50 and Rip Taylor will jump out and throw confetti all over you, etc.?

not even the reps in both Sprint and Verizon seem to be able to know exactly how anything works (haven't messed w/ATT) and I can't tell if that's by design (like ignorance and customer confusion gets them more sales) or if it's just because there's no communication plan and it's actually not a huge secret.

Sprint I can at least apologize for because they're brand new to the iPad world. Verizon's had long enough to figure it out.

davideotape said:

Sprint I can at least apologize for because they're brand new to the iPad world. Verizon's had long enough to figure it out.

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Verizon does have it figured out. They are making it as inconvenient as possible to use their prepaid plan, to encourage their customers to move to the postpaid plan. I don't see them changing.

Feeling way better about keeping my WiFi Mini instead of upgrading to a Verizon LTE. Ummm, thanks?

Regards,
Tom

bevsb2 said:

I am gifting my iPad 3 and just de-activated the Verizon service. What is the cost of buying a new SIM card from Verizon in case the person who is getting this iPad wants to activate the 4G?

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Go to apple store they will give you whatever SIM card you need for free. Verizon should also give you one for free. You can also call Verizon and have them mail u a new SIM card

I have the same issue. i like the idea of activating the ipad when i travel. i buy the lte for the option of having lte. i am usually on wifi so dont use it. i am not going to pay for lte when i know i have wifi but its nice to have the option. this policy makes it tuff to turn off and on. maybe i would do a wifi only next gen.

iPad mini nano sim

So what about the nano sim in the mini? I'm guessing it suffers the same fate after 5 months? Where do you get those on replacement? The eBay seller only seems to have regular and micro sims, not nano? Has anyone bought a mini and cut it down successfully?

BruiserB said:

So what about the nano sim in the mini? I'm guessing it suffers the same fate after 5 months? Where do you get those on replacement? The eBay seller only seems to have regular and micro sims, not nano? Has anyone bought a mini and cut it down successfully?

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Bought a Sim cutter from mini to nano size. Working well on my mini which was transplanted from a ipad 3.

Yeah the Verizon system is a huge mess. How could the most expensive carrier have the most ridiculous and inefficient system for prepaid service is beyond me.

MacMaven said:

To update this thread, I sued Apple in New York City small claims court over the SIM deactivation issue. Apple didn't show up to court. I won a default judgment after presenting the case to an arbitrator.

Here's a recap:
http://macmavenconsulting.com/blog/apple-lawsuit-update/

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Why sue Apple? Why not Verizon? How is Apple supposed to control what the carrier does?

Verizon LTE service in Washington, DC

The service is terrible. I have the newest iPad, and more often than not when downtown, it will just spin in place while on LTE. The worst thing is, it doesn't even know its not working. I have to turn LTE off to force it to switch to 3-G, then I get Internet connectivity back.

I wish dearly I hadn't been seduced to buy a Verizon iPad on the argument that they had better service than AT&T. This is demonstrably WRONG. My old 3-G AT&T iPad worked better than this downtown. I should have stayed with AT&T. I would have had better service and a more generous data plan for the cost.

Anybody nearby want to trade?

Fix

I too went to the Verizon store and called Apple to no avail. However, when I was at the Verizon store, I watched the employee as he went to:

Settings> General> Reset > Subscriber Services

and pressed "Reprovision Account"

He immediately tested to see if I could activate the pre paid Sim card and it came back with the same error. Of course the only way they would give me a new one is if I subscribed to their monthly plan that is way more expensive. They refused to give me a new card.

However, after a few hours, I tried it again at home just to see...and it worked. I was able to successfully activate the iPad with the 1 Gb/$20 plan.

Hope it works for everyone!

fusion150 said:

The service is terrible. I have the newest iPad, and more often than not when downtown, it will just spin in place while on LTE. The worst thing is, it doesn't even know its not working. I have to turn LTE off to force it to switch to 3-G, then I get Internet connectivity back.

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For me personally, I find that I have terrible coverage in the areas I frequent in Northern Virginia.

Verizon may have the best network, but reception around my home is terrible.

MacMaven said:

To update this thread, I sued Apple in New York City small claims court over the SIM deactivation issue. Apple didn't show up to court. I won a default judgment after presenting the case to an arbitrator.

Here's a recap:
http://macmavenconsulting.com/blog/apple-lawsuit-update/

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I wouldn't expect them to show up. You know how much it would cost them to reply/show up to crap like this? Way better off just paying the damages without spending any manpower on it.

So is it good idea if I canceled prepaid from Verizon to remove my SIM card until I will want to get prepaid again? Will iPad 4 work as usual on Wi Fi? Will this action save my SIM card from Verizon destroying it?

hondaivtec2007 said:

Go to apple store they will give you whatever SIM card you need for free. Verizon should also give you one for free. You can also call Verizon and have them mail u a new SIM card

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Verizon's policy is to only give a replacement sim for post paid accounts and they stick to it. My guess is that stores get some kind of credit for post paid but not pre.

The apple stores so far have been good about giving folks replacement sims although its likely not an official thing. So I would try there, wouldn't hurt to do it via the Genius Bar as they likely know more about such issues. You can always just say that you were trying to activate the service and it wasn't working and forget to mention that you spoke to Verizon etc. then they would have an official issue to record which might make it easier to justify giving you the sim etc.

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MacMaven said:

To update this thread, I sued Apple in New York City small claims court over the SIM deactivation issue. Apple didn't show up to court. I won a default judgment after presenting the case to an arbitrator.

Here's a recap:
http://macmavenconsulting.com/blog/apple-lawsuit-update/

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You sued the wrong company as the sim isn't Apple's and neither is the policy. S while you maybe got a little money it didn't really fix the issue. They still have the same policy and Verizon still refuses to give replacement sims for prepaid accounts (which is the real issue cause that is where they are trying to sucker folks into the post paid thing)

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serega said:

So is it good idea if I canceled prepaid from Verizon to remove my SIM card until I will want to get prepaid again? Will iPad 4 work as usual on Wi Fi? Will this action save my SIM card from Verizon destroying it?

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Nope. Cause they aren't literally destroying the SIM card. The id number for the card is dumped out of their database of usable numbers.